Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Presidents Cup Press Release

Press
Release

Press
conference of the President's SAMBO Cup in Edinburgh, Scotland

September
24, 2016

The
President's SAMBO Cup will take place on September 24 in Edinburgh, Scotland
with the support of Rosneft, the General Sponsor of this event. The tournament
press conference will be held on the competition day, September 24 at 10 am in
the Sheraton Hotel. Special guests and the organizers of the President's SAMBO
Cup 2016 will answer journalists' questions.

The
actual sports event will start with the opening ceremony at 13:00, and the
final fights and awards ceremony will begin at 17:00. Meadowbank Sports Centre,
Edinburgh's main sports complex, is the venue for the already traditional
tournament. All major events in the city, including concerts, are held here. As
in previous years, the organizers of the President's Cup are planning some
pleasant surprises for both spectators and tournament participants, but they
are still a secret.

The
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will be hosting this
tournament for the third time. The first President's SAMBO cup was held in
London in 2014, and the second in Manchester in 2015. In 2016, as we've already
said, the tournament will be held in Edinburgh.

This
year, the President's Cup Organizing Committee will be chaired by HRH Princess
Katarina, who is a member of two European Royal Dynasties. She is a great
granddaughter of Queen Victoria on her mother's side and of the King of Serbia
from the famous Balkan Karađorđević dynasty on her father's side.

Michael
Wynne Parker, President of the Commonwealth SAMBO Association, announced that
members of several ancient Scottish clans had already expressed their intention
to attend the tournament. The Consul General of the Russian Federation to
Scotland and the chief executives of several county councils are also expected
to attend.

According
to Robin Hyslop, President of the Scottish SAMBO Federation, people here are
looking forward for an entertaining tournament. Naturally, the Scots intend to
cheer madly for their team, which they hope to see in nothing less than the
final of this prestigious tournament.

The
tournament's main prize – the gem-incrusted Challenge Cup of about 10 kg – has
already been won twice by the Russian team. This time, Scotland and other
countries will try to do their best to beat the Russian team. In 2016, athletes
from Italy, Spain, France, Holland, Ghana, Commonwealth countries and Scotland,
the host of the tournament, will be fighting for the tournament’s main prize.

Starting
last year, the organizers added another sports event with show elements to the
President's SAMBO Cup – the Combat SAMBO GrandSlam. In Manchester, this
tournament was held in the light heavyweight class – 100 kg, and it was won by
Russian Mikhail Mokhnatkin. This year, the organizers decided to hold the
tournament for combat sambists in four weight classes: 62, 74, 82 and 90 kg.
Combat sambists from Trinidad and Tobago, the USA, Australia, Slovenia, the UK,
Poland, Aruba, France and Russia have already confirmed their participation in
this part of the tournament. Like last year, cash prizes will be given to the
winning sambists.

We
should note that the President's SAMBO Cup has helped uncover a lot of talents
from the Commonwealth countries. Along with medals, athletes who competed in
that tournament returned home with vivid memories and started promoting the
sport in their home countries – in Australia, India, Singapore, Hong Kong,
Trinidad and Tobago, Ghana, Canada, Nicaragua and South Africa. So far, teams
from 22 countries have taken part in the tournaments; thus, SAMBO is steadily
spreading around the world, bringing people, countries and continents together.
That's why each year the Organizing Committee for the tournament invites teams
from various national SAMBO federations that are FIAS members in order to
promote SAMBO worldwide and develop good relations and mutual understanding
among people of different countries.

Along
with the tournament participants, a whole army of fans and SAMBO enthusiasts
will also come to Edinburgh. A team of 40 fans is planning to come from St.
Petersburg alone. The Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko and
President of the St. Petersburg SAMBO Federation Mikhail Kokorin, who is also a
world SAMBO champion, will head the St. Petersburg delegation.

In 1986 Martin Clarke founded the
British Sombo Federation. Why and How did this happen;

Martin had competed in Sombo with the British Amateur
Wrestling Association in the early 1970s in those days it was refereed to as
either Cambo or Sombo, the word Sambo was considered racist by the powers that
be. Using the C instead of the S was because in the Russian Alphabet the S
sound was written as a C as for Sombo some maintained this was the correct
spelling in reality the only spelling was Sambo. With the Sport moving to
Olympic Games recognition, the FIAS directed all member countries to use just word
which is Sambo.

The BSF went on organise
British and regional championships as well as taking teams to world and
European championships and in 1990 the Sports Council recognised the BSF as the
Governing for Sombo/Sambo in GB. Martin went on serve as Treasurer of the
international Organisation FIAS , was awarded a Grand master of Sambo the only
person in GB ever to receive the award ,in the last few years was presented
with a Gold medal for Services to International Sambo and was also awarded a
Star of Sambo this given to him while at the World Championships in St
Petersburg 2008 this was awarded to the top 10 most influential people in World
Sambo. 2013 World Championship martin was just one of 8 people to receive a
special Gold Medal celebrating 75 years of Sambo

Times move on and the British Sombo
Federation which is now a "Federation of Sambo/Sombo Organisations"
is represented by the following organisation which have affiliated in 201
English Sombo Federation, British CombatSombo Association, Sombo Union of Great
Britain , Federation of Russian Martial Arts (Sambo) Scottish Sombo Federation,
Red Star Sambo, Northern Ireland Sombo Federation, United Kingdom Sambo
Association British Grappling
Association

In 2014 and 2015 the BSF
were involved in organising the very prestigious "Presidents Cup"
held in Dartford and Manchester

About SAMBO in Scotland:

The
first Scottish world SAMBO champion was Morris Allan, who won his title in
Minsk, Belarus in 1975. Morris is the most decorated Scottish wrestler of all
time, and is the only athlete in the history of the UK to become a world
champion in three styles of fighting: freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling and
SAMBO. In recognition of his unique achievement, Queen Elizabeth II made him a
knight, so Morris Allan became a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order
of the British Empire. He was also recognized as Scotland's Wrestler of the
Century. Morris Allan will take part as a guest of honor in the tournament
press conference and the President's Cup in Edinburgh.

The
Scottish SAMBO Federation was formed in 1989. The first national SAMBO
championship was held in 1995, with only 20 participants. Now, in 2016, this
number has grown to 200 participants. It's worth noting that Robin Hyslop,
President of the Scottish SAMBO Federation, has been named coach of the year
twice in the last 20 years.

The
main SAMBO clubs in Scotland are Dumfries Sambo Club, Closeburn Sambo Club, Red
Star Sambo, Sombo93 Edinburgh, Dynamo Sambo in Glasgow and West Sambo from
Greenock. That's a lot of clubs for a small country – it's a sign of the
enormous amount of effort put into developing and promoting SAMBO, and great
success.

Press Conference 2014

Information for accreditation:

Journalists
wishing to take part in the event should contact the Head of Development of the
International SAMBO Federation Andrew Moshanov by phone 44 7725 319179 or